Infratil’s data centre business wins record contract from US customer
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
CDC Data Centres says it has secured a major contract with a United States customer for a 555 megawatt deal that takes the company’s total contracted capacity to more than one gigawatt.
The 30-year contract with an unnamed customer includes renewal options for up to 20 years and is the largest such contract in Australia. The capacity would be delivered across CDC campuses that were under development and would become operational over the 2028 and 2029 financial years.
Wellington-based Infratil holds a 49.7% shareholding in CDC Group Holdings and its shares shot up 8.95% on the announcement to $14 a share.
Infratil chief executive Jason Boyes said the deal marked another step change in the scale of data centre demand in New Zealand and Australia, and an important milestone for CDC.
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CDC chief executive Greg Boorer said the contract equated to about 40% of operating capacity across all Australian data centres in 2025 and underscored the opportunity to attract global computing capacity on both sides of the Tasman.
“This contract reflects the strong global track record CDC has established in delivering large scale, future proofed and sustainable data centre campuses, and consolidates its position as the largest data centre provider across Australia and New Zealand,” he said.
Shane Solly at Harbour Asset Management said it was a significant deal and provided further confirmation of CDC’s ability to deliver on their promises.
“Confirmation that they don't need to raise additional equity capital at this stage is useful as well,” he said.
Craigs Investments Partners portfolio manager Mo Singh said the contract would substantially boost CDC’s development pipeline and demonstrated an acceleration in demand.
“It adds to the credibility and opens new doors for new customers,” Singh said.
Boorer said the announcement highlighted the position of both countries as a preferred secure destination for large-scale intelligence generation.
“The size and term of this agreement reflect the strongest vote of confidence in this region and in CDC’s differentiated offering, trusted customer relationships and large-scale development capability.”
CDC’s total contracted capacity would exceed 1GW and ebitdaf (earnings before interest, depreciation, amortisation and fair value) was expected to exceed A$1 billion (NZ$1.2 billion) in the 2028 financial year. When fully deployed, CDC’s total contracted capacity would deliver annualised ebitdaf of about A$2b, he said.
The company’s 2027 financial year ebitdaf guidance of A$680 million to A$720m remained unchanged because the newly contracted capacity would become operational over the following two financial years.
Capital expenditure in the 2027 financial year was expected to be between A$3.8b and A$4.2b, excluding land, as data centre construction increased to meet market demand.
CDC raised A$500 million in equity from shareholders in February to finance the acceleration of its construction programme
The development programme would be funded through existing cash on hand and committed debt facilities, along with further debt and hybrid funding, Boorer said.
CDC is a developer, owner and operator of large scale data centres across Australia and New Zealand.